This series of events is considered a turning point for both Vietnam and Nvidia. So what does the world chip giant want from Vietnam and what benefits will Vietnam get?

Unprecedented developments

Nearly a year after his visit on December 11, 2023, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang returned to Vietnam on December 5. This event attracted special attention from the media and the Vietnamese and international technology community.

That's because of the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in today's world, and Nvidia is the engine driving this trend.

The frequency of visits to Vietnam twice in less than a year by technology tycoon Jensen Huang - who runs the world's largest capitalization corporation (3,500 billion USD) Nvidia - and his participation in a press conference right after the event is noteworthy.

Nvidia Chairman and CEO Jensen Huang is a rare presence at a press conference, in any country.

Mr. Huang is a tech guy and is not usually very enthusiastic about journalism.

But with Vietnam it was different, he was excited and friendly!

What happened is clear. Jensen Huang came to Vietnam to establish two world-class artificial intelligence centers. They are the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development Center, known as VRDC, and the Vietnam AI Data Center. The agreement was signed between the Vietnamese government and Nvidia.

VRDC will be one of the three largest AI research and development centers in the world, alongside Silicon Valley in the US and another center in Taiwan (China). Mr. Huang himself also assessed that December 5 is a special day for Vietnam and a historic day for Nvidia.

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Nvidia Corporation Chairman and CEO Jensen Huang drinks beer with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh . Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac.

Nvidia founder Jensen Huang said December 5 is the birth day of Nvidia Vietnam. This is a large research and development (R&D) center, which will focus on artificial intelligence, software and system technology that Nvidia is deploying. Nvidia CEO affirmed that it will promote the domestic AI industry.

In addition to meeting and working with Vietnam's top leaders, Nvidia Corporation Chairman and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh enjoyed Hanoi street food and drank Truc Bach beer... on Ta Hien Street.

Another notable point is the information that Nvidia officially took over the artificial intelligence company VinBrain from billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong's Vingroup and Mr. Huang won the VinFuture Prize - a global science and technology award, the first time awarded to an entrepreneur (along with 4 scientists).

There is also a possibility that Nvidia will also buy billionaire Vuong's VinAI. In mid-October, a source on Tech in Asia as well as The Business Times revealed that Nvidia was considering buying VinAI.

What does the “Jensen Huang incident” show?

It can be seen that the presence of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Vietnam this time is very special.

The fact that the world's number one corporation Nvidia acquired Vietnamese artificial intelligence company - VinBrain, instead of investing in establishing a new company, proves that Nvidia highly values VinBrain, which is a good sign for Vietnam's technology industry.

VinBrain is a startup that specializes in developing AI solutions in the medical field, including DrAid - a comprehensive AI solution for medical diagnosis. VinBrain's CEO is Truong Quoc Hung, who worked for a decade at Microsoft and held the position of AI director at the American corporation.

DrAid collects and cleans a huge amount of image data from major hospitals in Vietnam and internationally, and is capable of processing this data, from X-ray, CT, MRI images... to make highly accurate diagnoses. VinBrain cooperates with many major hospitals in the country and is expanding to the international market.

With VinBrain, Vingroup has created a high-tech product, formed on the basis of modern hardware and software equipment, international quality human resources, large data collection and very high level organizational capacity.

Nvidia's choice of Vietnam as the world's third AI center, instead of other leading AI countries such as China, UK, Singapore, Canada... is a very encouraging sign.

Some leading technology experts in Vietnam analyzed that Nvidia may be applying the lock-in strategy that Oracle and Cisco used in Vietnam, or that Microsoft applied globally with the Windows operating system, making it difficult for customers to leave.

This assessment is not unreasonable, because this is a familiar strategy of large corporations in the world, especially in the technology sector. Even the purchase of VinBrain can be part of a global M&A strategy, when finances are abundant and want to ensure maintaining the number 1 position in the AI field.

Nvidia also plans to open an AI training school in Vietnam. Of course, students will learn Nvidia's AI technology, which is a long-term advantage for the corporation.

However, that is just one perspective. The question is why choose Vietnam, and not other AI powers?

In fact, many analysts believe that AI is no longer a technology of the future but has penetrated deeply into economic fields, and is the driving force for a country to break through. AI will contribute tens of thousands of billions of dollars to the global economy.

In the context of Mr. Donald Trump returning to the White House, prioritizing technology development and having a strong competitive strategy with China, international capital flows may shift and choose Vietnam.

With the appearance of Nvidia, Vietnam is expected to be a place to attract technology talent in the world.

Nvidia Becomes World's Most Valuable Company: Will It Hit $10 Trillion? Chipmaker Nvidia surpassed Microsoft and Apple on June 18 to become the world's most valuable company. Its stock is expected to rise further thanks to the AI storm and it could be the first company to hit $10 trillion.